


Stories in the Night

by teatearsandbbc



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Fluff, Pete's World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 23:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1244554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teatearsandbbc/pseuds/teatearsandbbc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Rose doubts whether the man she's with is actually her Doctor.  On those nights, the Doctor will tell her stories</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stories in the Night

There are nights when the Doctor lies beside Rose Tyler.  He knows her well enough that even her silence speaks volumes to him.  And on some nights he can tell she’s doubting.  Unsure about who he really is.  If he is truly the man whose hand she took all those many years ago.  And so he’ll lay there beside her and tell her stories.  They won’t be touching.  She’ll be curled on her side, facing away from him and he’ll lie on his back with his hands folded over his stomach and he’ll talk to her about Gallifrey.  He’ll describe every tiny detail, every rise and fall of the distant hills, every little place he used to seek out and play in.  He’ll tell her about his mother making his favorite foods and his father playing out on the red grass with him.  He talks about still being a child and lying out beneath the stars and even then, dreaming of soaring among them.

He’ll tell her stories of when he was taken to the Academy, when he looked into the Time Vortex.  He doesn’t have to describe it to her.  She’s seen it for herself.  He’ll tell her about the classes and training and growing up so lonely.  He tells about meeting the boy who would eventually become the Master, about the absolute wonder and delight of having a friend.  He’ll go on and on, everything he never said, every memory he stuffed away because they were simply too painful. 

He tells her about the start of the War and the terror that came with it.  He talks about how they were taught to despise Daleks, how they were said to be purely evil creatures.  But he wondered.  He had never met one, so how could he know they were evil?  And he talks about fighting in the war.  Meeting a Dalek for the first time and barely escaping with his life.  Joining the Council and learning to fly a TARDIS.  The ones he learned on were much newer.  Type 80 and 100.  But he always liked the feel of the old Type 40s. 

He talks about the peace time, about getting married and having children.  Watching them grow up and have children of their own.  He doesn’t talk about his wife much.  He’s a different person now than he was then in almost every sense and Rose knows that, but still, he can almost see the little lines that appear between her eyebrows when he talks about her for too long.  But he’ll tell her all about his children, playing with them on those same hills, teaching them the old Gallifreyan lullabies.  Sometimes he’ll sing those songs to Rose and he thinks she smiles.  As he talks, she’ll slowly roll over onto her back or to face him, sometimes curling into his chest.  He’ll wrap an arm around her, hand cupped at her waist, and keep talking.

He’ll tell her about the War breaking out again and the soul-deep dread that settled in him.  The feeling that this one would have to be different.  And he talks about running away.  Running as fast and as far with his only living relative, his granddaughter, as he possibly could.  He tells her about learning the TARDIS he stole, forming a bond with the ship that few other Time Lords had.  He tells her all about his adventures away from Gallifrey.  The different companions, his time on Earth, times on other planets, in other galaxies, in every time and place imaginable and then some.  900 years of time and space tended to give one story material.  He tells her about every star he visited, what his favorites were, times he nearly died, times he did die.  He’ll rub a gentle thumb along her side and tell her of the wonders he saw, the things that took his breath away.  He tells her about the first time he watched a supernova and the awe that filled him.  He had never felt so small and powerless and yet so vastly significant in all his life.  He tells of the heartbreak of losing his granddaughter, of losing companion after companion.  He talks about the different people he became, the adventures he had and the places he saw again, but through different eyes.

He tells her about the return to Gallifrey.  He talks about the Fall of Arcadia.  And he talks of the decision to destroy his people.  He was so lost then.  He was afraid and so very hurt and he didn’t know what else to do, only that the War must end before it destroyed the universe.  On those nights, he sometimes cries and Rose will hold him close and kiss away his tears while he clings to her like a lost child.  He tells her about watching his planet fade from his grasp and he questions all over again whether he did the right thing. 

And then he talks about becoming the man she first met.  He talks about meeting her, seeing her for the first time.  He talks about grabbing her hand and whispering “Run,” into her ear.  He’ll hold her tight in his arms when he talks about that and she’ll giggle when he whispers that word to her again.  He tells her the stories of their time together, only this time, he’ll say what he never did then.  He’ll tell about falling in love with her one adventure at a time and he’ll tell her about the soaring hope that filled him when she came back to him.  He tells her about that first kiss, about pulling the Time Vortex out of her head and bringing her back to herself.  Then he talks about regenerating and becoming the man he was now and all the fun they had then.  He’ll talk and talk and she’ll smile and nod and interrupt to help tell him the stories.  Sometimes they laugh until tears fall out of the corners of their eyes at the ridiculous things they did together.  They’ll tell each other their love story. 

And when they talk about the Battle of Canary Wharf, they’ll both go quiet.  She’ll tell him about the years she spent trying to get back to him, about the time she spent there in Pete’s World and how for a long time, she felt so torn in half that she couldn’t get out of bed some mornings.  Usually when she talks about those times, she’ll hold tightly to him as though reminding herself that he is actually there beside her.  And he’ll tell her about the years without her, about Martha and Donna and trying to forget how to love her because what else could he do?  He talks about seeing her everywhere and feeling his two hearts shatter in his chest.

But then they tell the story of finding their way back together.  She talks about screaming and crying and hugging Mickey when they first got the dimension cannon to work.  She tells him about the hope that rose in her and that she refused to let go of.  And she talks about the fierce joy that ripped through her when she found herself back on the right Earth.  Her Earth.  She tells him about knowing she had to fight to save this universe, but that the only thing that occupied her mind was finding him again.  And they talk about seeing each other again for the first time.  She talks about seeing the back of his head and being frozen in her tracks.  About him turning around.  He tells her about the way his busy, rushing, running mind went silent and the only thought that screamed in his head was _Rose_.  They laugh together about running towards each other, so totally focused on being in each other’s arms that nothing else mattered.  She talked about feeling like she had been shot herself when she saw the Dalek’s beam hit him and the paralyzing fear that she would lose him so soon after she got back to him again.  And then they’ll talk about being back in each other’s arms.  The way it felt like being complete.  They’ll talk about the battle and about this incarnation of him being sprung from his hand and Donna’s touch.  They’ll tell each other the story of standing again on that beach at Bad Wolf Bay and the chance they had at a life together.  They’ll tell the story of that kiss and the Doctor will kiss those lips again.

Those nights are some of the best they have together.  Sometimes he’ll only tell her a few stories before she’s curled up by his side again, snoring softly into his chest and all he can do is thank whatever mercy brought him back to her.  Other nights they’ll talk until the sun peeks through the curtains and then they won’t talk any more for a while, too busy with sweeter things.  But those nights when he seems foreign to her, when she feels far away from him and he knows her thoughts are with a man just like him who is sailing across the stars of another universe, the Doctor will tell her his story.  The whole messy thing and how she was the best of it all.  And as she always has, she finds her way back to him and they carry on together.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and suggestions! I can be found on Tumblr at the same username (teatearsandbbc).


End file.
